A shot at love
by mirdaishan
Summary: "She hadn't said a word all night. When he had asked her if she wanted to drive, she had given him a polite 'No, thanks', but that was all. Now she was sitting next to him, staring out the window without saying a word." It doesn't take Greg long to figure out what's wrong with Morgan, but he doesn't know how he can help her, except for finding out who shot at their friend Liz...
1. Chapter 1

**I know the title looks a little like my story Trace of love, but this is not a sequel to that story! I might do one in the near future, but until then I have this story for you! :) Enjoy!  
Oh, and the Bodyvive class I mention really does exist! Try it out when you get the chance! ;)**

She hadn't said a word all night. When he had asked her if she wanted to drive, she had given him a polite "No, thanks", but that was all. Now she was sitting next to him, staring out the window without saying a word. He had noticed she kept touching her right shoulder with her left hand and when he thought back, he couldn't remember her using her right hand earlier. She had taken her kit out of her locker with her left hand and she had held the door with her left hand as well. He knew she was right-handed, so why wasn't she using her right hand? A red light gave him the chance to look at her. She had her left hand on her right shoulder again, a painful look on her face.  
"You okay?" he asked, sounding a little worried.  
"I'm fine."  
Okay then… He was almost glad the light turned green so he could concentrate on the road again. He knew everyone had an off-day sometimes, he just wasn't used to Morgan having one. She had sounded so grumpy when she had told him she was fine. Why? Clearly she wasn't fine or she wouldn't have had that painful look on her face when she had touched her right shoulder. Why wouldn't she tell him what was going on? Ever since they had worked on Alison's case together he had gotten the feeling they had become really good friends. Okay, it wasn't where he wanted to be, because obviously he wanted to be more than just friends with her, but it was much better than just being colleagues. And now she wouldn't even tell him what was going on? He tried again: "You sure you're okay?"  
"I'm fine, Greg, I just told you I was."  
Every word was pronounced with the hidden message 'Just leave me alone'. She had never snapped at him, or anyone else that he could remember, like this before. What was going on? Suddenly he felt angry. He pushed down the brake and stopped the car on the side of the road. Surprised, she looked at him. Before she could say anything, he almost shouted: "No, you're not fine, you're just not telling me what's going on! You didn't want to drive, while you normally always want to drive to a crime scene, you avoid using your right hand and arm, you keep touching your right shoulder… What's going on? Did you hurt your shoulder?"  
"That's none of your business!" she snapped at him. "Just drive, okay?"  
"No, not okay!" he immediately said. "Why do you keep touching your shoulder like that? If you're in pain, you can tell me, I thought you knew that…"  
"It's… none… of… your… business!" she said, emphasizing every word. "Can we now just get to the crime scene or am I supposed to call a cab?"  
Still feeling angry he started the car again. He drove to the crime scene without saying another word. If she didn't want to talk, then neither did he.

When they arrived at the crime scene, Brass greeted them.  
"Victim's name is Nolan Thom, thirty-three, lives here alone after his wife and child left, according to the next-door neighbor," he told them. Morgan walked passed him without even greeting him, which made Brass raise his eyebrows.  
"Don't ask," Greg told him, trying hard not to sound too angry. He walked inside as well and greeted David, who was kneeling next to the victim.  
"Single gunshot wound to the head," he said. "There's gunshot residue on his head, so he was shot at close range and there's a suicide note on the counter. But yet…"  
He didn't finish his sentence, because he knew Greg understood where he was going.  
"There's no gun," Greg nodded. "Time of death?"  
"About two hours ago," David told him. He looked up when Brass approached them.  
"I talked to the next-door neighbor, she said she had been out with her dog all afternoon," Brass said, checking his notes. "When she came back, her dog was barking at something in the backyard here. When she took a closer look, she saw Nolan lying on the floor, so she called us."  
"I'll check the backyard."  
Greg looked up at Morgan, but before he could make eye contact, she had already left the living room and walked out into the backyard. Brass cleared his throat to get Greg's attention again, who was still looking at the door Morgan had just left through.  
"The backdoor was open, but there was no sign of forced entry," Brass said. "That's about all I have."  
"Thanks," Greg said with a quick nod. He got out his flashlight and started to look around. Nolan Thom's living room was empty, but he could see discolorations on the wall of where photo frames had been before. He knew he was supposed to follow the evidence, but a theory already started to form itself in his head: Nolan Thom and his wife get a divorce, Nolan can't handle it, maybe also because he can't see his child whenever he wants anymore, and decides to end his own life. The theory of course didn't explain why there was no gun. Remembering the 'Sherlock Holmes' case he had worked years ago as his final proficiency, he looked around if there was any place the gun could have been hidden.  
"Do we know if he had a gun registered to his name?" he asked.  
"I'll check into it," Brass promised. He left the living room and went outside to make the call. David looked at Greg. "Do you want to take another look or can I take him back to the morgue?"  
Greg took one last look at the body. There seemed to be nothing suspicious, except for the fact that there was no gun.  
"You can take him," he told David. He started to look around again. All of a sudden, he saw Morgan in the backyard, clumsily reaching up with her left arm. He slowly walked outside and watched her for a few moments without saying anything.  
"You know, you could help me instead of just watching me," she snarled at him.  
"I could," he nodded, "but why don't you first tell me what you're doing?"  
She sighed and turned around. "There's a gun on the floor of the tree house here and I wanted to get it out. I just can't reach high enough."  
"Why don't you use your right arm?" he suggested while crossing his arms. She looked at him with a not-amused look on her face. "I can't, okay? You happy now? I think a pulled a muscle in my right arm or something like that and now my shoulder hurts and I can't lift my right arm. So, there, that's what's going on. Congratulations, you got it out of me!"  
She rushed back into the house, bumping into to him with her left shoulder on purpose. With a sigh he walked over to the tree house to get the gun. He had never thought that there would be a day that he wished his shift with Morgan was over already, but now he really did.

Several hours later that moment finally arrived. He almost raced to his locker where he couldn't help heaving a deep sigh. Nick, who was getting his things from his own locker, looked up with one of his well-known smiles. "You okay there, Greggo?"  
"No," he confessed. He shook his head. "Forget about it, it's no big deal."  
"Hmm… That sigh can't be because you're having trouble solving your case," Nick said. "I heard you and Morgan solved it in one shift."  
"Yeah, nothing big," Greg said, shrugging his shoulders. "The man had committed suicide, a little thief saw him lying on the floor with the gun, he entered through the backdoor to steal the gun, but when he left, the neighbor's dog started barking and he panicked, so he tossed the gun into the tree house."  
Nick gave him a little nod. "Still, to figure it out in one shift… I would have thought you'd stall a bit so you could work with your girlfriend a little longer."  
He added a teasing smile, but Greg shook his head. "She's not my girlfriend and I don't think she's ever going to be, so just drop it, okay?"  
"Oh… Trouble in paradise?" Nick grinned while he got out his car keys. Greg shook his head again. "She was just in a bad mood today and that's not exactly fun to work with!"  
"I can imagine that," Nick agreed with him. "Hey, you know what always helps me when I need to get a bad mood out of my system? Working out! Why don't you hit the gym for a few hours? It'll help you blow off some steam!"  
"That's actually a good idea," Greg nodded, suddenly realizing it would indeed help him get in a better mood again. "Thanks!"  
"You're welcome," Nick nodded with a smile. "And if you ever want to really thank me, I have two words for you: dog food. You won't believe how much Sam eats!"  
Laughing, Greg left the locker room. He started to feel a little better already and by the time he had picked up his gym bag and parked his car in front of the gym, he had almost forgotten about Morgan's bad mood. Almost, of course, because it still bugged him that she had snapped and snarled at him like that. It wasn't his fault her shoulder hurt! He shook his head while he entered the gym. Why did she have to take it out on him? He had only been worried…  
"Hey, Sanders!"  
He looked up and saw Liz standing at the bar, dressed in a purple tank top and black dance pants as usual. She gave him a huge smile. "Come to join my class today?"  
Liz was one of the instructors at the gym. She taught several classes and ever since they had first met, which was now almost five years ago already, she had tried to get him to join one of her classes. He had always refused: he preferred to work out alone over being in a class.  
"You know you're going to have to do better than just ask me, right?" he reminded her with a smile on his face. He liked Liz as a friend: she was always nice to him, always happy and she always managed to make him smile.  
"Okay, then I'll make you dinner if you join my class today," she suggested. He looked at her with his eyebrows slightly raised. "You mean like a date?"  
"Come on, Sanders, I've known you long enough to know I don't stand a chance with you," she told him, still smiling. "You already have your heart set on someone else. I don't know who she is, but she's very lucky. You're a great guy, Greg, but don't worry: you're not my kinda guy. Friends, okay, more than friends, no way. I just want you to try out one of my classes, that's all."  
Her kind words and cheerful smile, that were the completely opposite of Morgan's bad mood, suddenly made him decide: "Alright then, I'll try one of your classes! Once, okay, once!"  
He had already seen her eye light up and repeated: "Once, you heard me?"  
"When you've tried Bodyvive once, you'll never to want miss another class!" she promised him with a smile. "Now, get upstairs, class starts in ten minutes!"  
Smiling, he went upstairs to get changed. He knew Bodyvive was Liz' favorite class to teach and she was always trying to find new people to try out the class. Since he had never tried it, he had no idea how busy it was going to be, but he figured it would be very busy since he knew how enthusiast Liz could be about her class. With his towel and bottle of water in his hands, he went to find the aerobics classroom. Liz was already there, preparing everything for the class. She smiled at him. "Finally! You're gonna love it, Sanders, I promise you that!"  
"I'm not so sure yet," he said with a sigh, but he was just teasing her a little now. "So, what do I need?"  
"Well, for Bodyvive you always need…"  
Before she could tell him what it was that he needed for the class, they heard a door opening, followed by an angry: "What are you doing here?"  
Greg turned around and froze. What was Morgan doing here? She seemed even more angry than during their shift. "Did you follow me? Did you hide a camera in my bag or something like that?"  
"I've been working out here for about five years already," he told her. He couldn't help but sound angry as well. "What are you doing here?"  
"I've been working out here since I moved to Vegas," she snarled at him. "I've never seen you do Bodyvive before, so what are you doing here?"  
"Well, it's good to see you two know each other!" Liz interrupted them. "Morgan, why don't you show Greg what he needs while I get a pair of new batteries for my headset? I've asked Greg to join us today, I hope you don't mind. How's your shoulder by the way? You didn't seem all too happy after that CXWorx class you did yesterday!"  
"I'm fine," Morgan snapped at her. Liz smiled again. "Great! Then I know you'll take all the high options!"  
Angry, Morgan crossed her arms. Liz nodded. "I figured as much. Why don't you decide on how your shoulder really is while I get those batteries? Oh, and please show Greg what he needs without eating him alive, okay? Thanks!"  
She left the aerobics classroom. Greg immediately felt she had taken the last bit of the happy atmosphere with her. He avoided looking at Morgan and decided to ask the next person who entered what he needed.  
"So you didn't follow me?"  
He turned around and looked at Morgan. "No, of course I didn't follow you. Like I told you, I've been working out here for about five years and Liz has always tried to get me to join one of her classes. I always said 'no', but today I felt I needed a little distraction after the way you had been acting during shift today, so I decided to give her class a chance. If I had known you'd be here, I wouldn't have, alright?"  
"Oh, so now it's all my fault?" she shouted. "I'm the one who does everything wrong?"  
"It's not my fault you hurt your shoulder and if you're in pain, you don't need to take it out on me," he reminded her. "I'd be more than happy to help you if you need help, but not like this."  
"I don't need help," she immediately snapped back at him, which was exactly what he had expected. He couldn't help it, but even now she was so stubborn and angry, he still felt his heart beating twice as fast as usual.  
"Fine, you don't need help," he nodded. "But I do now, because I don't know what I need for this class."  
"Fine then! You need…"  
Again, he didn't get to find out what he needed to the class. Three shots coming from downstairs made them immediately forget their fight and rush out of the aerobics classroom. They ran downstairs, following the sound of screams. The area around the bar was suddenly full of people.  
"Get back!" Greg shouted. He had seen blood on the floor, which was never a good sign. He ran towards the pool of blood, pushing people back along the way. When he had finally managed to clear the area, he froze. This couldn't be true…  
"Stay back, this is a crime scene now!" he heard Morgan shout. Seconds later, she appeared next to him.  
"Oh, no," he heard her whisper. "Liz?"  
The pool of blood next to Liz' side grew larger and larger. Greg saw Morgan getting up from the corner of his eyes. She kneeled down next to a man he didn't know.  
"He's dead," she told him after checking. "Is Liz…"  
She didn't finish her sentence. Greg stared at Liz' face. She couldn't be dead, she just couldn't be! A sudden groan made him sit up. "Liz? Can you hear me?"  
He fought the urge to pinch himself to check if he wasn't dreaming. She gave him a small smile. "You didn't have to shoot me to miss my class…"  
"Call 911!" he immediately shouted as loud as he could. "We need an ambulance, now!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: no idea if Las Vegas Happy Cakes really exists! ;)**

After what seemed like hours, the ambulance finally arrived. Greg hadn't left Liz' side, while Morgan had called Russell and Brass to tell them what had happened. Brass was the first to arrive.  
"What happened?" he asked Greg, who stepped aside to give the paramedics the space they needed to stabilize Liz before she could be taken to the hospital. Without taking his eyes off of her, he told Brass that he and Morgan had been upstairs when they had heard three gunshots.  
"So you haven't seen anything?" Brass asked to be sure.  
"No."  
"Great… Is there any video surveillance?" Brass looked at the young girl behind the bar. Greg knew her name was Marcy, but that's all he knew.  
"No," Marcy told Brass. "We have cameras upstairs and at the pool, but not here."  
"Can you tell me what happened then?" Brass asked her, sounding slightly impatient.  
"I was making coffee for Steven Winwood, that's the man that… that…"  
"Got shot, yes," Brass understood, sounding more than just slightly impatient now. "Go on!"  
"I had my back towards the door, because I was making coffee and then… I suddenly heard shots… I turned around and saw Steven and Liz on the floor…" Marcy's eyes filled up with tears. Morgan walked over to her and put her left arm around her. "It's okay, Marcy, I know it's difficult, but we have to know what happened if we want to find out who did this to Liz. Did you see anyone with a gun?"  
Marcy shook her head. "No, I didn't see anything! I was making coffee and then…"  
She started to cry.  
"Was there anyone with you?" Morgan asked. Again, Marcy shook her head. "No, I was alone. I always am till ten o'clock. It's always fine… Except… today…"  
She started to cry even louder.  
"We're taking her to Desert Palm," a paramedic interrupted her crying. He had to speak loud so everyone could hear what he said. "Her family can see her there."  
He and the other paramedic took Liz outside to the ambulance. Marcy continued to cry. "She doesn't have any family here, they all live back in Australia!"  
"What do you know about Steven Winwood?" Brass asked, while Morgan handed the young girl a tissue. After Marcy had blown her nose, she said: "He had just joined a few weeks ago. He was here every morning to work out for thirty minutes and then he always sat at the bar for nearly an hour, drinking coffee."  
"Did he always work out alone or with someone else?" Morgan asked, handing Marcy another tissue.  
"Alone," Marcy answered with a small sob. "He always left when someone else sat down next to him at the bar."  
"Always?" Greg repeated. Marcy nodded. "You know Alex Fraginni, the Italian guy? He's always weight lifting. He has arms as big as… you!"  
Greg slowly nodded, he knew who Marcy meant.  
"Well, Alex always has a drink after his work out, but whenever he sat down at the bar, Steven left," Marcy told him. "They had a couple of big fights because Steven thought Alex smelt too much like sweat. He wanted us to make a rule that people first have to shower before they sat down at the bar."  
"They fought because of a sweaty smell?" Greg couldn't hide his amazement. "It's a gym!"  
"I doubt a sweaty smell is enough reason to kill someone," Brass said. "Or is this Alex Fragilini particularly violent?"  
"Fraginni," Marcy corrected him. "No, not that I know of. Alex isn't the nicest man working out here, I'll admit that, but I don't see him killing anyone."  
"We'll need to speak with him anyway," Brass said. "Do you know where he is?"  
"I thought I saw him in the fitness room earlier," Marcy told him. She threw the wet tissues in the trashcan and took a deep breath. Morgan gave her an encouraging smile. "Well done, Marcy, you've really helped us!"  
"I'll see if I can find this Fragile pizza guy," Brass said. He walked over to the fitness room, where Morgan had told everyone to go to so they wouldn't compromise the crime scene. She now shook her head. "If this Alex guy really is as big as Marcy says, then why would he use a gun if he really wanted to kill Steven?"  
"What if Steven wasn't the target?" Greg suggested. "What if someone was after Liz?"  
"Steven is dead, Liz isn't," Morgan reminded him. "Do you have your kit with you so we can start processing the scene or do we have to wait for Russell?"  
"I have my spare kit in my car, yes," he said. He hadn't missed the tone of annoyance in her voice. Was this still about her shoulder or was she just angry at him for another reason? She hadn't sounded that annoyed when she had talked to Marcy, he remembered.  
"I'll see if I can find Jack to ask him about the video surveillance anyway, I know there's a camera in the fitness room, we might get lucky," Morgan continued. She didn't have to explain who Jack was, Greg had met the gym club owner many times. "Do you want to start processing the scene?"  
He managed to just hold in a 'Yes, ma'am!' and nodded instead. He walked outside to get his spare kit from his car and saw Russell pulling up in his car.  
"Nice outfit, Greg!" Russell grinned. Greg gave him a sarcastic smile as response, which made Russell laugh even louder. Then he became serious again. "So, tell me what happened! I've got Morgan's kit with me as well, just like she asked me on the phone. Is this a date gone horribly wrong between you two or am I just missing something?"  
"We're not on a date, we just both happened to be here at the same time," Greg told him, sounding a little gruff. Russell smiled at him. "Alright, alright, just tell me what happened!"  
While they walked back inside, Greg told him about the shooting. Russell nodded. "Okay, so one dead, one injured and no one saw anything. Well, that should be easy enough! Morgan, what about the video surveillance?"  
"The owner is getting the tapes for us right now," she told him.  
"Excellent. I've got your kit here, I'll help you process the scene while Greg goes to the hospital to check up on Liz and the bullet she might have in her," Russell decided. Greg watched him hand Morgan her kit, which she clumsily took from him with her left hand. Deciding not to embarrass her in front of Russell, he walked over to her and softly asked her: "Do you want to go to the hospital instead? Maybe you can get your shoulder checked out at the same time…"  
"I'm fine!" she told him, immediately sounding angry again. When she looked at him directly, her anger seemed to disappear a little bit. "I'll be fine, okay? Just go and see how Liz is doing!"  
"I'll text you as soon as I know anything," he promised her. She didn't say anything, but he was sure he had seen a tiny nod in her eyes.  
"I'll just get my clothes from my locker upstairs and then I'll go," he told Russell.  
"Why change? You might amuse some people along the way," Russell said with a smile.  
"Ha, ha," Greg started, but Morgan interrupted him by snapping at Russell: "Can we focus here? One guy's dead and a woman is seriously injured! I didn't realize that was a good time for jokes!"  
Greg saw Russell raise his eyebrows.  
"I found a bullet," Morgan continued, picking it up with her left hand. When she got up, she accidentally bumped her right shoulder on the bar. Greg saw her grimace from the pain, but he decided not to say anything. It would be too useless.

After he had changed, he drove to Desert Palm hospital and asked about Liz. He was told that she was still in surgery, but that he could wait for her doctor. He arrived almost an hour later with the bullet in a small plastic bag and Liz' clothes in a bigger paper bag.  
"Not my first gunshot victim," he explained when he saw Greg's surprised face.  
"How is she?" Greg asked, taking the bags from the doctor.  
"She has lost a lot of blood, but she should be fine in a couple of weeks," the doctor told him. "She's very healthy and strong, so I think she will recover very fast. The bullet didn't hit any vital organs and hasn't caused any permanent damage, so I see no reason why she shouldn't recover fully. She's still asleep now, but you can talk to her later."  
"Can I see her?" Greg suddenly asked.  
"Of course," the doctor nodded. He took Greg to a room on the third floor of the hospital. Greg looked inside through the glass window of the door. Liz was in bed, suddenly looking very small with a white face and in her white hospital gown.  
"She should be just fine," the doctor told him again. "We'll of course know for sure when she's awake, but there were no complications during the surgery. If she's not fine, well, then I have to go back to medical school!"  
His small joke didn't quite reassure Greg, but he smiled anyway. "Thank you, doctor."  
He continued to watch Liz for a few more moments before he decided to go back to CSI to process Liz' clothes. Nick joined him when he was looking at the blood spatter on Liz' purple tank top.  
"I heard my idea didn't turn out so great," he said, nodding with his head towards the tank top.  
"The doctor said she's going to be fine," Greg told him. "I'm going back to the hospital later to talk to her. Do you know if Russell and Morgan are back from the scene yet?"  
"Yeah, I saw Russell go downstairs to the morgue to talk to Doc Robbins about your other victim and I saw Morgan head over to Ballistics," Nick remembered. "Is she still in a bad mood that you know of? When I saw her, she kinda reminded me of Grumpy, that dwarf from Snow White!"  
"She's still not exactly happy, no," Greg agreed with him. "I'll go and find her."  
He put Liz' clothes back in the evidence bags before he headed over to the Ballistics lab. Morgan was trying to look at the bullets she had found at the scene under the microscope, but she had trouble adjusting the lens with her right hand.  
"Why don't you take Liz' clothes and I'll run the bullets?" he suggested, startling her when he suddenly spoke.  
"I'm perfectly cap…" she started, but she gave up when he looked at her. "Fine, I'll take the clothes."  
She quickly left the Ballistics lab, but not quick enough for Greg to miss the tear running down her face. He hesitated from a moment. Was he supposed to go after her? No, he decided. She'd probably just get angry again and he wanted to avoid another outburst. He walked over to the microscope, adjusted the lens and looked at the bullet. Since he didn't see anything special, he scanned it into the computer and ran it. To his surprise, he found a match. A same kind of bullet had been found two weeks ago in a store. There had been a shooting, but no one had gotten hurt. Greg frowned when he saw the name of the store: Las Vegas Happy Cakes. Besides working out, Liz had another hobby: baking and decorating cakes. He knew Las Vegas Happy Cakes was one of her favorite stores, she had told him once she had spent over a hundred dollar during one visit. Was it a coincidence that the same bullet had been found at the gym where she was working and at her favorite store? Greg printed the information and went to find Morgan. She was busy drawing circles around blood drops on Liz' purple tank top, but since she was using her left hand, she hadn't drawn many circles yet.  
"What do you want?" she almost growled when she saw him.  
"Do you know Las Vegas Happy Cakes?" he asked, ignoring her growling. She raised her eyebrows. "That's Liz' favorite store. She visits it at least twice a week."  
"A bullet that matches the one you found today was found there two weeks ago," Greg told her, handing her the print out. "Do you still think Steven Winwood was the target?"  
Morgan looked at the print out. "The bullets match exactly, but the gun was never found… Russell and I didn't find a gun at the gym either. The shooter must have taken it with him again. Do you think he's really after Liz? Who would want to kill her?"  
Greg shrugged his shoulders. "No idea… Did you find anything on her clothes?"  
"Not yet," she admitted. She took the pen in her left hand again and drew another clumsy circle.  
"I'll do it," Greg decided. "You call Brass and let him know what I found out, okay?"  
"No, I can do this!" Morgan said, immediately sounding angry again. She grabbed the pen back that he had taken from her.  
"Morgan…"  
"No!" she shouted. "Everything's fine, I'm just using my left hand instead of my right hand! I used to do it when I was little as well, it's no big deal!"  
"It is when you're handling evidence," Greg reminded her.  
"I'm not ruining anything, if that's what you think!" she shouted out. She threw the pen back onto the table with her left hand, her right arm still pressed against her stomach. "It's nothing, I told you already, it'll go away by itself! It's just a muscle, no big deal! I'm fine, I'm…"  
He had just kept looking at her while she shouted and now he saw her slowly starting to break. Tears started rolling down her face while she still whispered: "I'm fine…"  
Without saying another word, he stepped towards her and carefully wrapped his arms around her. He felt her face against his shoulder and only one hand on his back. Her shoulder shook as she cried, which caused her to touch her right shoulder again.  
"It hurts like hell," she whispered through her tears. "Help me… please…"  
"We'll go back to the hospital to talk to Liz and then you can get your shoulder checked out," he softly told her. She started to shake her head already, but as soon as he reached out to her right arm, she nodded. "Alright, alright, we'll go to the hospital. But I'll be fine, okay?"  
"Okay," he said, just to agree with her. He'd say anything right now, just to help her get rid of her pain.


	3. Chapter 3

**If you haven't seen S13E10 you might not understand the Donna comment, but I'm not sure if I should really call it a spoiler...**

After he had driven to the hospital, he waited while Morgan got her shoulder checked out. She came back only half an hour later and showed him a little white box. "I got painkillers, that's all for now. Doctor says it's a small infection, nothing to worry about, but nothing he can do something about either. I need to take these for a while and then I need to see a physiotherapist, but then everything should be fine again. I probably just overdid it a few times when I was working out, that's all."  
"Don't tell Liz, she won't be happy to hear that!" he said with a small smile. To his relief, Morgan smiled as well. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea!"  
Then her smile disappeared and she looked at him seriously. "Thanks for taking me here, Greg. And I'm sorry I snapped at you a couple of times, it wasn't your fault that my shoulder and arm hurt. I was just in pain and that doesn't happen to me very often, so I was just…"  
"Not yourself?" Greg suggested. She smiled at him. "Yeah, I guess that's kinda the best way to put it. But I shouldn't have taken it out on you, you were only trying to help. I'm really sorry. Think you can forgive me?"  
The way she looked at him made it impossible for him not to forgive her. Why did she have to be so beautiful and sweet? He tried to sound as normal as possible when he said: "Yeah, sure", but he was almost convinced she had heard the little shake in his voice.  
"Let's go see Liz," he quickly said. He let the way to Liz' room on the third floor and saw she was awake this time.  
"Hey," he smiled. "How are you feeling?"  
"Obviously like I've been shot," she replied. She smiled at Morgan. "Tell your Dad I know how he felt after he had been shot."  
"I will," Morgan promised.  
"How's your shoulder?" Liz then asked. Greg saw Morgan's eyes grow larger in astonishment. "You've just been shot and then you want to know how my shoulder is doing?"  
"Yeah, that's why I asked."  
Greg smiled, recognizing Liz' cheerful voice. "You're going to be just fine!"  
"I have to be. You still need to join one of my classes!" Liz said, her eyes full of seriousness.  
"When you're all better again, I'll join them for an entire month," Greg promised her. Liz gave him a satisfied nod. "Excellent! Now, are you still going to answer my question, Morgan, or do I need to get out of this bed first?"  
"Don't you dare!" Morgan warned her, which caused Liz to smile. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere yet. Getting shot isn't exactly pain free! But how are you?"  
"I went to see the doctor and I'll be fine again," Morgan told her, quickly looking at Greg. "I got some painkillers and once my shoulder is feeling a little better, I need to see a physiotherapist."  
Liz hadn't missed the look Morgan had given him, Greg noticed. He decided to quickly change the subject before she could say anything about it.  
"Can you tell us what happened?" he asked. Liz shrugged one shoulder. "Nothing much. I went downstairs to get batteries when I suddenly heard a shot. Next, I felt this huge pain in my side."  
"Do you have any idea who shot you?" Morgan asked. Liz shrugged again. "It all happened so fast. And then it just hurt."  
"Liz, Las Vegas Happy Cakes is your favorite store, right?" Greg asked. Liz nodded. Carefully he asked: "Where you there two weeks ago?"  
"I go there at least twice a week, so I probably was there two weeks ago," Liz said, pressing her hand against her side. "Why?"  
"Do you know anything about a shooting at Las Vegas Happy Cakes?" Morgan asked, also sounding very careful. Liz shook her head. "No, doesn't ring a bell! And if something had happened there, I should know, don't you think? I think I'm keeping them in business all by myself!"  
She laughed, but then pressed her hand against her side again.  
"We'll leave you alone," Greg decided. "Come on, Morgan."  
He softly pushed Morgan out of Liz' room. As soon as he had shut the door, Morgan whispered: "She's lying!"  
Greg nodded in agreement. Something just didn't sound right about Liz' answers, but why would she lie about who shot her?  
"Let's get back to CSI and check out the surveillance tapes," he suggested.  
"I'll check the tapes, you check her clothes," Morgan nodded. "Maybe we can find out then why she isn't telling us the truth!"

After they had arrived back at CSI, Morgan went to the AV lab, while Greg took another look at Liz' clothes. When he looked more careful at her black dance pants, he found a black hair on them. It could be a coincidence of course, but he still ran the hair for DNA. The result caused him to look at the screen twice. The computer had found a match, but it wasn't a 100% match. It was a familiar match… and it matched to Liz' DNA.  
"Greg, come and see what I found!"  
He turned around and saw Morgan, her eyes beaming with excitement.  
"Come and see what I found," he said, pointing at the screen. Morgan stepped into the DNA lab and looked at the computer screen. She nodded and whistled softly. "So you found a hair that belongs to her father… who lives all the way back in Australia. That's strange!"  
"You found something," Greg understood after those last words. She smiled at him. "Oh, yeah! Come and take a look!"  
She took him back to the AV lab and showed him what she had seen on one of the tapes from the fitness room. It showed Liz talking to a man with black hair, who looked a lot like her, which ended in a small, almost innocent looking fight where Liz pulled out a handful of the man's hair. She dropped them on the floor, but one hair obviously had stuck to her dance pants. What happened after that wasn't visible on the tape, but it wasn't hard to guess as the man followed Liz.  
"Her own father shot her," Morgan told Greg. "That's why she wouldn't tell us anything at the hospital, she wants to protect him, even though he shot her."  
"Why would a father shoot his own daughter?" Greg said, shaking his head. Morgan shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea…"  
Suddenly she realized what she had just done. Smiling she looked at her shoulder. "Hey, I guess those pain killers are really working!"  
Greg smiled back at her. "That's good to hear! But I still think we need to go back to the hospital…"  
"I know…" Morgan sighed. "Time to confront Liz with what we found!"

As soon as they had told Liz about the hair and the tape, she nodded. "Okay, I lied, I admit it. I do know something about that shooting at Las Vegas Happy Cakes and I do know who shot me."  
"Why didn't you tell us immediately?" Greg said. "Steven Winwood is dead, you do know that?"  
A tear ran down Liz' face. "I know… I'm sorry, I didn't mean for him to get shot… My Dad… He was after me, not after Steven! He shouldn't have killed him…"  
"Why did your Dad want to shoot you?" Morgan asked, a demanding tone in her voice. Another tear ran down Liz' face. "He has wanted to kill me ever since I was little… My parents split up when I was ten and I chose to stay with my mother. He hated me picking her side and tried to kidnap me a couple of times. Finally, my mother and I moved to Australia. My Dad didn't know about it until my mother and stepfather made the paper because they had the biggest family in town: eight kids, including me. My Dad appeared in town only two weeks after that newspaper article. He first tried to talk to me, but when I told him I hated him for what he had done to me, he started to beat me up. If there hadn't been any bystanders, I would have been dead already! My mother then decided it was better for me to leave Australia. I had just started my fitness training, so I asked my trainer a good place to continue. He suggested I'd come here, which I did. I was safe here until I became instructor of the month. My Dad saw the article in the sports magazine about me working at the gym and about how much I loved to bake cakes and get supplies at Las Vegas Happy Cakes, so all he had to do was wait until I went to the store again. I saw him just in time and managed to escape, but this time I couldn't just run away. I saw him when I came downstairs and tried to ignore him, but when I saw his gun, I went over to him to tell him to get out. He tried to get me to go outside with him, but I pushed him away and pulled out some of his hair, hoping it would make him leave. Well, you know it didn't…"  
"Why didn't you tell us immediately?" Morgan softly asked.  
"He's my Dad," Liz just said. She leaned back into her pillows and stared at the ceiling. Suddenly she pushed herself up. "Greg, look out!"  
Before he realized what had happened, he felt an indescribable pain in his shoulder. Next, everything went black around him.

When he opened his eyes again, the pain was gone. He carefully turned his head towards his shoulder and saw that it was covered in bandages. When he looked up, he saw Morgan smiling at him. "Hey… You're finally awake."  
He tried to gather his thoughts, but he just couldn't remember what had happened. Or where he was for that matter. He looked around and realized he was in the hospital.  
"Liz' father found out where she was," Morgan told him. "He tried to shoot her, but hit your shoulder instead. The hospital security managed to arrest him, Brass has already questioned him. He has confessed to everything: the shooting at Las Vegas Happy Cakes and shooting Liz and Steven at the gym. You were right, he was only after Liz, Steven wasn't the target. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The very wrong place and time… He didn't have a family or kids, so at least they don't have to deal with all of this. Of course it doesn't justify what Liz' father did to Steven, but for me it always makes it a little more terrible if there's a grieving family."  
Greg slowly nodded, he understood what she meant. He stared at the ceiling, trying to process what she had told him and what had happened.  
"The doctor said you get to home soon already," she changed the subject. "I was actually kinda hoping you'd be able to help me a little until my shoulder is all fine again, but I guess it's going to be the other way around, don't you think?"  
"I'll be fine," he told her, sounding a little grumpier than he wanted. She smiled at him. "Where have I heard that before?"  
She slowly took his hand in her own hand and smiled at him again. "Liz thinks we make a great couple now we both have an injured shoulder. But I had to tell you that this is no excuse for you to miss her class once she's better again!"  
Greg wasn't sure if the smile was really visible on his face. His heart was beating nearly four times as fast now that she was holding his hand and the pain in his shoulder had suddenly disappeared.  
"So, what should I tell her?" Morgan asked, still holding his hand. She softly ran her thumb up and down it, which caused goose bumps to appear on his arm. He tried to get his voice under control when he said: "I'll join her class as soon as my shoulder is fine again."  
"That's not what I meant…"  
She was still running her thumb up and down his hand. When he looked at her, she just smiled at him. "I meant the other part of her comment. The part about us being a great couple… Remember Donna saying she thought we were cute together as well?"  
"I… remember…" He almost didn't recognize his own voice. Morgan just smiled at him again. "Come on, Greg, do you really want to deny it any longer? Don't you remember your horrible attempt at flirting with me when we first met? I know for sure that I'll never forget it! I was too worried about having to face my Dad at the time to realize, but looking back, I kinda fell in love with you right there and then… I just didn't find the courage to tell you until I saw you there in Liz' room with that blood all around your shoulder. I then realized I had to tell you before…"  
"It was too late?" he finished the sentence for her. She nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, I guess… Maybe it's a little dramatic, but with the job we do, I guess anything can happen… I don't want to lose you without ever getting the chance to tell you how much… How much I… love you…"  
She spoke softer and softer with every word, but he had no trouble hearing what she said. His mind had a little trouble processing it, though. Had she really just said that she _loved_ him? Almost automatically he reached out with his left hand to his right arm to pinch himself. Morgan smiled at him. "Don't worry, you're not dreaming. I really just told you that I love you, Greg. I was just kinda hoping you'd say something back instead of trying to pinch yourself…"  
He moved his left hand up to her face so he could pull her close.  
"I love you too," he just managed to say before his lips were covered by hers. He already knew he'd try to pinch himself a few more times in the near future, because this really felt like a dream.  
"Once the doctor sends you home, come over to my place until your shoulder is healed, okay?" she whispered in between kisses. "I'll help you with whatever you can't do alone, because I know from experience you can't do everything by yourself with only one good shoulder!"  
"Isn't that kinda like 'the blind leading the blind'?" he said with a small grin, his hand still in her hair. She smiled at him. "Maybe… But I more thought of it as an excuse to spend time together…"  
He pulled her closer again. "You can keep on thinking of excuses like that in that case… I know I'm going to love all of them already!"

A few days later, he was released from the hospital. He moved to Morgan's apartment like they had agreed on at the hospital and he soon stopped pinching himself after that as he finally realized Morgan really did love him as much as he loved her. Living together with her felt so natural as well that when his shoulder was healed, neither of them mentioned him going back to his own place. It was actually Nick who first brought up the subject when he saw Morgan reaching out to a tea glass on the top shelf with her right hand.  
"I guess your shoulder is all better again as well," he said. After Greg had been shot, Morgan had confessed her own shoulder problems as kind of a cover story for her and Greg being together.  
"Oh, yeah, it's fine," she nodded, putting down the tea glass.  
"Well, I guess Greg's going back to his own place then since there's no use in him helping you out anymore," Nick suggested. Greg tried to keep a straight face, but Nick of course saw through it. He laughed. "Come on, when are you two finally going to admit that you're not just together in Morgan's apartment to help each other out? You're living together, so what? I'm happy for you two!"  
"Do you think…" Morgan started, but Nick already shook his head. "I can keep this to myself? Not a chance! And besides, I think everyone in the lab already knows! Next time you might not want to kiss each other in the locker room…"  
He left the breakroom, leaving them looking at each other in amazement.  
"There was no one around, how could he know?" Morgan stammered. Before Greg could say anything, his phone told him he had received a text message.  
"Oh, it's from Liz," he saw. "Ah, she's back at work again today at nine and she expects both of us to be there!"  
He looked at Morgan. "What do you say? Feel like working out?"  
After a moment of silence, she nodded. "Yeah, sure. And then I feel like moving the rest of your stuff to my place… if you feel like it as well of course…"  
"You mean like really moving in with you?" he hesitantly asked.  
"Yeah… Unless you don't want to, of course," she quickly added. He got up and walked over to her. With a smile on his face he wrapped his arms around her. "I may have to start pinching myself again to make sure I'm not dreaming… Of course I want to really move in with you! I'm just not sure if today is the best day to move all my stuff because I have a feeling Liz is going to make us work very hard during her class today…"

He ended up being right: after Liz' class neither of them felt like that had enough energy left to move all of Greg's stuff to Morgan's apartment.  
"An entire month, remember what you promised?" Liz grinned when she saw the exhausted look on Greg's face.  
"If I survive that long!" Greg sighed. Liz smiled at him. "Don't worry, Sanders, I'm sure Morgan will help you survive! She's used to doing my class!"  
"Not anymore," Morgan groaned. "How on earth can you have that much energy after being shot?"  
"It's part of the process," Liz said with a shrug. Greg shook his head. "I got shot too and I don't have that much energy!"  
"No, of course not, you're using your energy for something else!" Liz grinned. Both with their cheeks bright red, Morgan and Greg looked away from each other. Liz grinned again before she grabbed her bag. "I'll see you both at the end of the week, okay? Enjoy the rest of your day!"  
She left the aerobics classroom so Morgan and Greg were alone. Morgan looked at Greg. "What do you say? Feel like moving or do you wanna wait another day?"  
"I think I've waited long enough to be with you," Greg answered with a smile while he pulled her close. "But I may need a little distraction from my workout pain first…"  
Smiling, Morgan wrapped her arms around him. "Hey, that was the deal when we moved in together: I'll help you and you help me!"  
With her face only a few inches away from his, he softly whispered: "I'll be more than happy to help you…"  
After those words he closed the last few inches between them and kissed her. The pain from the heavy workout was already forgotten.


End file.
